1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to methods, compositions and kits for determining an analyte in a sample. In particular, this invention relates to compositions that exhibit a high quantum yield chemiluminescence when activated by singlet oxygen, decay rapidly and emit at long wavelengths.
The clinical diagnostic field has seen a broad expansion in recent years, both as to the variety of materials (analytes) that may be readily and accurately determined, as well as the methods for the determination. Convenient, reliable and non-hazardous means for detecting the presence of low concentrations of materials in liquids is desired. In clinical chemistry these materials may be present in body fluids in concentrations below 10.sup.-12 molar. The difficulty of detecting low concentrations of these materials is enhanced by the relatively small sample sizes that can be utilized.
In developing an assay there are many considerations. One consideration is the signal response to changes in the concentration of analyte. A second consideration is the ease with which the protocol for the assay may be carried out. A third consideration is the variation in interference from sample to sample. Ease of preparation and purification of the reagents, availability of equipment, ease of automation and interaction with material of interest are some of the additional considerations in developing a useful assay.
One broad category of techniques involves the use of a receptor which can specifically bind to a particular spacial and polar organization of a labeled ligand as a function of the presence of an analyte. The observed effect of binding by the receptor will depend upon the label. In some instances the binding of the receptor merely provides for a differentiation in molecular weight between bound and unbound labeled ligand. In other instances the binding of the receptor will facilitate separation of bound labeled ligand from free labeled ligand or it may affect the nature of the signal obtained from the label so that the signal varies with the amount of receptor bound to labeled ligand. A further variation is that the receptor is labeled and the ligand unlabeled. Alternatively, both the receptor and ligand are labeled or different receptors are labeled with two different labels, whereupon the labels interact when in close proximity and the amount of ligand present affects the degree to which the labels of the receptor may interact.
There is a continuing need for new and accurate techniques that can be adapted for a wide spectrum of different ligands or be used in specific cases where other methods may not be readily adaptable.
Homogeneous immunoassays have previously been described for small molecules. These assays include SYVA's FRAT.RTM. assay, EMIT.RTM. assay, enzyme channeling immunoassay, and fluorescence energy transfer immunoassay (FETI); enzyme inhibitor immunoassays (Hoffman LaRoche and Abbott Laboratories): fluorescence polarization immunoassay (Dandlicker), among others. All of these methods have limited sensitivity, and only a few including FETI and enzyme channeling, are suitable for large multiepitopic analytes. Luminescent compounds, such as fluorescent compounds and chemiluminescent compounds, find wide application in the assay field because of their ability to emit light. For this reason, luminescers have been utilized as labels in assays such as nucleic acid assays and immunoassays. For example, a member of a specific binding pair is conjugated to a luminescer and various protocols are employed. The luminescer conjugate can be partitioned between a solid phase and a liquid phase in relation to the amount of analyte in a sample suspected of containing the analyte. By measuring the luminescence of either of the phases, one can relate the level of luminescence observed to a concentration of the analyte in the sample.
Particles, such as liposomes and erythrocyte ghosts, have been utilized as carriers of encapsulated water soluble materials. For example, liposomes have been employed to encapsulate biologically active material for a variety of uses, such as drug delivery systems wherein a medicament is entrapped during liposome preparation and then administered to the patient to be treated.
Particles, such as latex beads and liposomes, have also been utilized in assays. For example, in homogeneous assays an enzyme may be entrapped in the aqueous phase of a liposome labelled with an antibody or antigen. The liposomes are caused to release the enzyme in the presence of a sample and complement. Antibody- or antigen-labelled liposomes, having water soluble fluorescent or non-fluorescent dyes encapsulated within an aqueous phase or lipid soluble dyes dissolved in the lipid bilayer of the lipid vesicle or in latex beads, have also been utilized to assay for analytes capable of entering into an immunochemical reaction with the surface bound antibody or antigen. Detergents have been used to release the dyes from the aqueous phase of the liposomes.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
White, et al. (White), discuss "Chemically Produced Excited States. Energy Transfer, Photochemical Reactions, and Light Emission" in J. Am. Chem. Soc., 93, 6286 (1971).
McCapra, et al. (McCapra), disclose "Metal Catalysed Light Emission from a Dioxetan" in Tetrahedron Letters, 23:49, 5225-5228 (1982).
Wildes, et al. (Wildes), discuss "The Dioxetane-Sensitized Chemiluminescence of Lanthanide Chelates. A Chemical Source of `Monochromatic` Light" in J. Am. Chem. Soc., 93(23), 6286-6288 (1971).
Handley, et al. (Handley), disclose "Effects of Heteroatom Substituents on the Properties of 1,2-Dioxetanes" in Tetrahedron Letters, 26, 3183 (1985).
Zaklika, et al. (Zaklika), discuss "Substituent Effects on the Decompositon of 1,2-Dioxetanes" in J. Am. Chem. Soc., 100, 4916 (1978).
European Patent Application No. 0,345,776 (McCapra) discloses specific binding assays that utilize a sensitizer as a label. The sensitizers include any moiety which, when stimulated by excitation with radiation of one or more wavelengths or other chemical or physical stimulus (e.g., electron transfer, electrolysis, electroluminescence or energy transfer) will achieve an excited state which (a) upon interaction with molecular oxygen will produce singlet molecular oxygen, or (b) upon interaction with a leuco dye will assume a reduced form that can be returned to its original unexcited state by interaction with molecular oxygen resulting in the production of hydrogen peroxide. Either interaction with the excited sensitizer will, with the addition of reagents, produce a detectible signal.
European Patent Application No. 0,070,685 (Heller, et al. I) describes a homogeneous nucleic acid hybridization diagnostic by non-radiative energy transfer.
A light-emitting polynucleotide hybridization diagnostic method is described in European Patent Application No. 0,070,687 (Heller, et al. II).